undead strategy

if u have any undead strategies please tell me. im still sort of working out the problems so if u have any hints please pass them on

those crypt spidey's are extremely good units, those combined with a load of meat wagons, necro's are able to take down many things. trouble is, you need loads resources in order to get all of that, so scout the map early and haunt gold mines asap.

surround your bases with ziggurats. not a few, dozens. and after that, build more.

(this is mainly geared towards FFA settings...can be applied to others though)


2 acolytes to gold.
ghoul to wood.
queue 2 acolytes in necropolis....target to gold.
3rd acolyte builds crypt and altar that order. send to gold.
hotkey crypt 0.
take 1 acolyte off gold, build zig. send back to gold.
queue up 1 more acolyte. target away from gold. this is scouter.
acolyte off gold...build zigg #2. send back to gold.
scouter pops. send to nearest possible gold main base.
zig 1 finishes. queue up dreadlord. target out a little ways from base.
crypt finishes. queue up 4 ghouls, target to wood.
scouter should be done checking first gold mine...send to another if small map, otherwise send home.
DL will pop. set his first spell for sleep. 5th ghoul pops.
double click on ghoul...send all 5 ghouls to necropolis to drop off wood
group 5 ghouls with DL. attack-move to just outside nearest creep.
start cannibalize.
upgrade to halls of dead.
fight first creep. sleep priest mob, or largest lvl.
swap out ghouls if weak....cannibalize finishes. use it to heal up.
queue up 3 more ghouls IMMEDIATELY DURING FIGHT
scouter back to base(if not already)
build graveyard
build zigg#3 with scouter.
take DL +ghouls to next creep(goldmine expansion)...bring along scouter acolyte
halls will finish. queue up another ghoul. begin research for ghoul attack 1.
start expansion goldmine w/ scouter
3 ghouls off wood. send to DL.
zigg 3 finishes. queue up Lich in altar, target to DL.
DL will level. spend point in vamp aura 1.
research ghoul armor 1.
more creeping.
queue 2-4 more ghouls...depending on creep losses.
when expansion finishes...build 2 ziggs around it with scouter.
build crypt #2.
upgrade 1-2 ziggs at expansion to spirit towers.
build zigg #3 @ exp.
Lich pops. first point in Frost Nova 1.
crypt 2 finishes. hotkey both crypts to 0.
queue up 4 acolytes. target to expansion.
research web.
research ghoul attack 2.
send DL+Lich+8ghouls to creep.
upgrade all 4 ziggs at expansion to spirit towers.
upgrade to black citadel.
creep till DL hits level 3. put point in vamp aura 2.
Lich will get lvl 2. put point in the mana sieve ability -dont remember name
hit key 0, type F (make two fiends...simultaneously-target to DL.)
when citadel finishes upgrading research ghoul frenzy.
queue up 2 more ghouls. target to wood.
queue DK in altar.
research ghoul armor 2.
bring army back to base. send all ghouls to wood. heros stand around.
send 1 ghoul to scout enemy bases.
acolyte off gold...build two temples of damned and 1 shade pit.
queue up 1-2 more ghouls from key 0 (2-4 will queue)
DK will pop. spell point in his aura 1.
turn all other ziggs to spirit towers in main base.
queue up 2 more fiends in crypts (4 total fiends). target to DK.
set 2 fiends +DK to hotkey2 (group 2). DL + Lich+10 ghouls to key 1.
creep lvl 9+ mobs.
shade pit finishes. queue up 1 acolyte in necropolis...target to pit.
target pit to outside base where enemy might approach from.
research ghoul attack 3.
temple 1 research necro adapt training.
temple 2 research skeleton longevity.
shade will pop. send to enemy bases. queue up another acolyte in necrop.
hotkey both temples to key 9.
DK will ding 2. use point for his healing 1. DL will ding 4. point in swarm.
Lich will ding 3. point in Frost Nova 2.
clear another goldmine. send 1 acolyte from main to expand.
shade 2 pops. send to another enemy base. queue up another acolyte.
queue up 2 necros from key 9 (4 total necros).
research ghoul armor 3.
keep army at new expansion till 4 ziggs up as spirit towers.
shade 3 pops. make him patrol all expansion areas.
queue another acolyte.
meanwhile..send DK to nearest shop to load up on group heal, self heal
also buy 1 protection scroll.
set 4 necros to hotkey 3. bring to army. turn on autocast skel.
research fiend attack 1.

You now have 2 expansions. 10 ghouls. 4 necros. 6 fiends(as a standing army)....you should have 2-4 more ghouls harvesting.
3 heros with very good spells, and you should know where enemies are, and what they have. you also have 2-3 town portal spells, in case u need to escape.

decide to attack or wait.
continue upgrading creature attacks/armor.
upgrade necro master training.

build meatwagon shop. queue up two meatwagons for siege.

basically with heros do aggressive anti hero fighting. DL sleeps, then follow immediately with Lich Nova and DK harm touch (unless undead enemy). finish with DL swarm. second Nova if necessary but usually not at this stage of the game. if you need to heal a hero use potions aggressively.


tired of typing.

Last edited by ranth on 10/31/02 - 09:41; edited 6 times in total

i want to add...

the shades you send to enemy bases....you should try to attach them to enemy armies asap to see their movements.

after practice you will be fast enough to have killed your first creep before the first nightfall...which is generally much faster than most people are prepared for giving you an edge in lvls and items.(other races generally cant reliably creep till nightfall hits)

generally 6 fiends is enough to take out all but the die hard pure air armies....but you have 3 teleport scrolls if things get hairy.

ive found that aboms are more often than not just a waste since they are weak vs pierce, and since you agressively creeped you should have some really nice items on your heros like free units or healing or whatever to aid you.

eventually you may want to go gargs to change strategy on enemies since they see you have a lot of weaker ground units....but generally an army this size can hold its own very very well in ffas....it comes down to hero control usually, but the beauty of UD heros is they are all able to deal out relatively strong fast damage to enemy heros, and the DL and DK at the same time provide two excellent auras to all units while assassinating pesky enemy heros. remember to eventually get master training for necros so they have mana for both skels and cripple(cripple really messes up heros)

after two large battles you will get the DL and Lich both 6....and then you can really begin to harass the enemy main bases.

Last edited by ranth on 10/16/02 - 20:39; edited 1 time in total

last but not least is hero spell progression for this to work best...remember heros are used for fast assassinations. this will get them levels fastest in a battle and will help overall in the battle. its all about fast damage with decent support for an army...the only reason i chose vamp aura over swarm for the DL is because vamp aura will help keep your fast attacking ghouls alive long enough to hold enemy armies back so you can kill the enemy heros..while 4 necros with adept training can produce a lot of skeletons to help buy time.

DL-sleep, vamp, vamp, swarm, vamp, golem, swarm, swarm, sleep, sleep

Lich-nova, mana convert, nova, mana convert, nova, d&d, mana convert, armor x 3

DK- aura, heal, heal, aura, heal, res, aura, pact x 3

the lich and DK are the heavy hitters. Lich always attacks with nova following a sleep because of the slowing effects of nova. the DK harm touch does excellent damage as well but doesnt work against undead heros.

The DL is the glue that holds the army together. His vamp aura is why you are winning, his sleep is letting you set up the hero kills, and once you get the golem you wont ever fear casters again(which is why he's first hero out....vamp3 + golem are very important)

against UD kill the DL first always, followed by Lich then DK.
against HUM kill MK first, then AM then Pali (sleep pali so he cant heal)
against NE kill DH first, then KotG, then PotM (can always sleep em if they use their specials)
against ORC kill the Farseer, followed by BM then TC..if TC is less than lvl 6 though kill him first (you deny them his aura and deny him the xp to get reincarnation, which basically makes ORC have 4 heros.) Also warstomp can be brutal against your low hitpoint army (so sleep him at the start of the battle if hes 6+)

thank u so much for the strategies. I been trying to make alot more abom. and really slacking on the production of the fiends. Abom. get murdered from what i have seen in combat. Is a lich really that good of a hero? I make him mainly because i like more of a pure spellcaster and i have been trying to find a way to make him be good, but it always seems like he just gets murdered as soon as there is a relatively large battle. All in all it just seems like the more i play undead i just feel more like they lack a big hp army and abominations can be made an easy target. What in your opinion is the easiest army for a beginner to the hardest?


thank u guys very much again for the strategies

i have been messing around with that 4th DL point and it seems to me that it is more productive to spend it on sleep2 rather than swarm1.

with sleep2 you can basically annoy the hell out of the enemy all battle long because sleep2 isnt as mana hungry as sleep1.

swarm1 just doesnt have the damage potential that a lvl 4 hero should be providing in a fast dmg ability.
so now im changing the DL spell progression to:

sleep1, aura1, aura2, sleep2, aura3, demon, sleep3, swarm1, swarm2, swarm3

ive been playing around a lot and the build above is VERY effective.
every game i win im top scorer....every game i lose im still top scorer by the time im eliminated.

recently i have only been playing random team games 3v3 mainly because FFA's are taking forever to find a game these days.

since im playing RTs now i noticed my build holds up very well still, and im always the first creeping and always have the highest lvl heros out there(upon watching replays after the match finishes).

ive only been using a 2-hero build though because i find RT games are a lot shorter than FFAs....ive been using a DL/DK combo...DL emphasis on vamp aura and sleep, DK emphasis on healing and aura....it has been working out VERY well.

the key is creeping....ive even been triple rushed while creeping and was able to push them back with teammates with minimal losses....getting your DL lvl 3 (for vamp2) really really makes a huge difference in your army's performance, and as UD you can have a lvl 3 DL before anyone else has a lvl 2 hero.


its also very important to remember to never stop ghoul production...which is an easy pitfall to trip in....the second cannibalize finishes researching you should queue up 2-3 more ghouls immediately because you are gonna be desperate for wood to start up your early expansion(this can be difficlt to do because cannibalize will finish while you are fighting your first creep...and dancing your ghouls in and out of the fight to keep them alive while remembering to start more ghoul production is difficult)....if you remember to keep the ghouls coming then you will almost guarantee that expansion up and defended with towers by the time the enemy realizes it.